Three more instances of malpractice in the banking sector in 24 hours (Bleak day for British banking as arrests follow record fine, 12 December) highlight again the need for a strong, effective professional body to govern this sector. Restoring badly damaged trust remains critical to the industry. Structural and regulatory changes alone will not achieve that. The experience of the British professions over some 200 years has shown that creating trust through behavioural and cultural changes within both companies and individual practitioners is best achieved through professional membership bodies that take their public interest responsibilities seriously. This week banking organisations and individual operators have been punished for a lack of professionalism and integrity. Banking deserves to be treated as a profession, rather than a series of trading activities, and on that basis a professional membership body would bring order and should herald an end to these bleak days.Louis ArmstrongChairman, Professions for Good